"That man only had to touch a little finger on your head" - When Darren Till compared Alex Pereira's power to deceased UFC knockout artist

Darren Till’s comments about Alex Pereira showcasing similarities to a UFC legend have recently re-surfaced.

Pereira made his UFC debut in Nov. 2021 following a legendary kickboxing career and a 2-1 professional MMA start. Since then, ‘Poatan’ has etched his name into UFC history by becoming the middleweight and light heavyweight champion at different occasions.

In Nov. 2022, Pereira secured a fifth-round standing TKO to dethrone longtime UFC middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya. As a result, the Brazilian striker earned significant respect from the MMA community.

In the aftermath of Pereira’s win against Adesanya, Darren Till talked about the new middleweight king on Michael Bisping’s podcast, Believe You Me. The following quote from Till was transcribed by MMA Fighting:

“I think Pereira is a big, strong, massive, slow middleweight. He’s slow, his strikes aren’t devastatingly fast, but my God, does that man carry power. I think I’m two times, three times faster than him — Adesanya as well — but he just needs to land.”

Till continued by comparing Pereira to UFC legend Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson:

“It’s like, rest in peace, I don’t even want to say his name because it’s a very sad [time], but Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson, I want to give my condolences, but I’m actually going to give the example of him because he is the best example of it: That man only had to touch a little finger on your head and you’d be knocked out. I think Pereira has that type of thing.”

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Alex Pereira shuts down heavyweight title fight at UFC 300

On Nov. 11, Alex Pereira knocked out Jiri Prochazka in the second round to claim the vacant UFC light heavyweight title. Earlier this month, he posted a cryptic message on Instagram (shown above), which some fans interpreted as him saying that he’s moving up to heavyweight for UFC 300.

During a recent interview with TheMacLife, Pereira shut down the possibility of fighting at UFC 300 for the heavyweight title, saying:

"I fought at middleweight, and I had to reset my body to go up to fighting at light heavyweight. I’m a fighter. I’ll fight anybody, anywhere. I want to make things the right way. I can definitely fight at heavyweight, maybe someday in the future. But it’s got to be something that’s well-planned. So right now I’m focused on my light heavyweight reign." [7:24- 8:00]

The idea of Alex Pereira fighting for the UFC heavyweight title is intriguing, but there’s plenty to take care of at light heavyweight.

Former 205-pound king Jamahal Hill is expected to return to the Octagon in the first half of 2024, where he will get an immediate title shot. Meanwhile, another title contender could be revealed on January 13 when Magomed Ankalaev and Johnny Walker go to war in the UFC Vegas 83 main event.

Watch Alex Pereira's entire interview with TheMacLife below: